Petal and Lamar County schools earn As in state accountability rankings; Petal makes No. 2 spot

VIDEO: Matthew Dillon, Petal School District Superintendent, says Petal School District is somewhere he's always wanted to be.
Ellen Ciurczak/Hattiesburg American

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Petal School District gets an A in the Mississippi Department of Education accountability rankings released Thursday. It comes in No. 2 in the state, with Lamar County School District at No. 8, also with an A.(Photo: File photo/Hattiesburg American)Buy Photo

Petal School District Superintendent Matt Dillon is once again leading a top school district. In the Mississippi Department of Education's state accountability rankings, the district came in No. 2 in the state with a letter grade of A. It scored 750 points out of 1,000 — missing the top spot by only 11 points.

"I'm very proud of our teachers and students, and our district as a whole," Dillon said. "Coming off the heels of being the No. 1 school district last year and still being able to grow in proficiency in all four categories — I can't say enough about our consistency.

The accountability system places an emphasis on growth — how much progress students make on the tests from year to year. Students in high-performing districts have a harder time showing growth because they are doing so well on the tests anyway.

Teacher collaboration helps in Lamar

At Lamar County School District, teachers working together helped students find success, said Teresa Jenny, director of academics and federal programs.

"Our teachers work collaboratively in Professional Learning Communities weekly," she said in an email. "This gives teachers the opportunity to interpret grade level standards, develop common assessments, plan instructional strategies, and monitor student progress towards mastery of the standards."

Eight schools in the Lamar County district earned As, while the others earned Bs. Jenny said these high rankings were the result of an effort to increase collaboration between teachers across the district.

"The consistency in our schools is a direct result of the hard work and dedication of our administrators, faculty, staff and students," she said. "Their collaboration with one another, our parents and the community is what drives the success of Lamar County School District."

Lumberton Public School District, which was consolidated into Lamar County School District July 1, received a C. It was one of 32 districts in the state to improve a letter grade in 2017-18, going up from a D. It earned 555 points.

Jenny said she could not speak to the improvement of the Lumberton district since it was under other leadership at the time of the increase. She did say Lumberton High School, which received a D, will be provided with the same resources and teacher collaboration as the rest of the schools in the Lamar County district.

HPSD points to success of elementary schools

The Forrest County Agricultural High School District received a B and 606 points. Superintendent Donna Boone said work was already underway to improve that effort.

"We know that we still have much improvement to make, so our committees are working to lead us in improvement in ACT scores, graduation rate, attendance and dual credit courses," she said in an email. "Our English and math department began last winter meeting with our three feeder schools in the Forrest County School District and will continue that work this year."

Hattiesburg Public School District received a D and 499 points. But Superintendent Robert Williams said several schools improved their scores from last year. For instance, Woodley Elementary received a B and 434 points out of 700, an increase of 72 points.

Grace Christian also did well, receiving a C and 357 points, up 64. Hawkins and Rowan also increased their scores.

Hattiesburg High School earned an F, but Williams said the classrooms are fully staffed with qualified teachers and the expectation is to do better.

"We are providing our students with more purposeful feedback, increasing instructional rigor and strengthening our literacy efforts to increase comprehension, writing and reading maturity," he said in an email. "A key component to move Hattiesburg High (up) is to ensure we are sending more academically proficient students to ninth grade.

"We are headed in the right direction as reflected in our proficiency data increases across the district in all subjects."

Williams said school officials are working to get the district into C territory by programming for academic success and supporting teachers as they provide quality teaching and learning experiences for students.

"We know that sustainable change takes time," he said. "In order for any plan to be successful, it takes everyone working together.

"We need continued support from our parents and the community."

The Forrest County School District received a C and 596 points. Officials with the district did not respond to a request for comment on their accountability rankings.

Johnny Franklin, the state Board of Education member who requested the delay in approving the rankings, cited concerns raised by school districts. Franklin would not specify what those concerns are but the rating system has come under fire in recent years after the state board reset the grading scale for two consecutive years